Farsi Island

A U.S. Navy frigate on patrol in the Persian Gulf has apparently hit an underwater mine, Pentagon sources said today. Defense Department spokesman Dan Howard said four American sailors were injured but that there were no fatalities. It remained unclear exactly how extensive the damage was. "It appears that none of them (injuries) are life threatening" to the four seamen, Howard told reporters. The officials identified the frigate as the USS Samuel B. Roberts. They said the ship "is in no danger of sinking.

Here is a chronology of developments involving the United States' role in the Persian Gulf since the attack on the USS Stark in May: MAY 17: U.S. frigate Stark is attacked in the gulf by Iraqi warplane; 37 crew members die. U.S. officials term the attack a mistake by Iraqi pilot. MAY 19: President Reagan says Stark tragedy "must never be repeated" and says U.S. forces in the gulf will have more leeway to protect themselves. Administration also announces it will fly U.S. flags on 11 Kuwaiti tankers as protection against Iranian attack.

Driven from its moorings by high waves, the stricken supertanker Bridgeton waited to load oil in the Persian Gulf today as experts searched for mines along the route the ship and its U.S. escorts will follow. In Washington, Pentagon sources said eight American minesweeping helicopters, known as Sea Stallions, would be sent from Norfolk, Va., to the gulf. The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the helicopters' departure was "imminent. " The RH-53D minesweeping helicopters, with a complement of 200 men to operate and maintain them, will be flown aboard Air Force transport planes to the USS Guadalcanal, an amphibious landing ship and helicopter carrier in the Indian Ocean, the sources said.

Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger said yesterday that mine-sweeping in the Persian Gulf had turned up suspected Iranian mines, but an Iranian official denied that Tehran was setting mines in the path of American tanker convoys. "We destroyed mines . . . outside the Kuwait harbor, and they're mines that Iran possesses," Weinberger said. "We don't know if those specific mines were owned by Iran, but we have every reason to believe they were. " Appearing on CBS's Face the Nation, Weinberger was pressed to say whether the mines recovered from the gulf had been identified as Iranian.

U.S. helicopter gunships attacked and sank three Iranian patrol boats in the Persian Gulf last night after the boats fired without provocation at a U.S. scout helicopter on routine patrol, administration officials said. Pentagon officials said that no Americans were hurt and that the U.S. helicopters were not damaged, but that two Iranian sailors died of their wounds shortly after they were pulled from the gulf by crewmen from a U.S. Navy vessel. In all, six Iranian crewmen were picked up by the Navy.

A supertanker operated by the U.S. oil giant Texaco today hit a mine in the Sea of Oman today - the first reported casualty of the Iran-Iraq "tanker war" outside the Persian Gulf. Shipping sources said the 274,347-ton Texaco Caribbean, flying the Panamanian flag, had taken on a full load of crude at Iran's offshore Larak Island terminal and struck the mine as it was coming in to anchor at the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah. The ship's captain, Luigi Parchi, said the mine blew a 12-foot-wide hole in the hull.

The supertanker Bridgeton, flying the American flag and traveling under Navy escort, hit a mine in the northern Persian Gulf early today as it passed an island fortified by Iranian Revolutionary Guards. No injuries were reported among the 26 people on board the 401,382-ton tanker Bridgeton, but the vessel took on water. After a brief delay, it proceeded toward Kuwait, where it was scheduled to arrive tonight. At the White House, a spokesman for President Reagan said the United States was not considering retaliation "at this time" because it is not certain who laid the device.

Iranian Prime Minister Hussein Moussavi, speaking at a military ceremony in Tehran, fueled speculation yesterday that Iran was preparing to mount a new offensive in its seven-year-old war with Iraq. The official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Moussavi as saying that a military mobilization not only would enable Iran to "launch fresh operations" against Iraq, but also "increases public readiness to encounter U.S. mischievous acts" in the gulf. The report was monitored here.

U.S. military forces are considering pre-emptive strikes against Iranian naval vessels suspected of carrying mines in the Persian Gulf, NBC News reported today. The Pentagon declined comment on the report, but administration officials said it was unlikely such an attack would be made unless an Iranian ship was caught sowing mines in the waterway. In a report from the gulf, NBC said Iran had stepped up mining near Farsi Island after the Sept. 21 attack by U.S. helicopters on an Iranian ship, the Iran Ajr, that the United States said was illegally sowing mines in international waters.

The Reagan administration decided to destroy an Iranian oil platform site instead of more dangerous missile sites to dramatize its willingness to retaliate while minimizing casualties and keeping its options open for tougher responses, U.S. officials said yesterday. "We do not seek further confrontation with Iran, but we will be fully prepared to meet any escalation of military actions by Iran with stronger countermeasures," Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger said 30 minutes after the attack ended.

A U.S. Navy frigate on patrol in the Persian Gulf has apparently hit an underwater mine, Pentagon sources said today. Defense Department spokesman Dan Howard said four American sailors were injured but that there were no fatalities. It remained unclear exactly how extensive the damage was. "It appears that none of them (injuries) are life threatening" to the four seamen, Howard told reporters. The officials identified the frigate as the USS Samuel B. Roberts. They said the ship "is in no danger of sinking.

Iranian Prime Minister Hussein Moussavi, speaking at a military ceremony in Tehran, fueled speculation yesterday that Iran was preparing to mount a new offensive in its seven-year-old war with Iraq. The official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Moussavi as saying that a military mobilization not only would enable Iran to "launch fresh operations" against Iraq, but also "increases public readiness to encounter U.S. mischievous acts" in the gulf. The report was monitored here.

The Reagan administration decided to destroy an Iranian oil platform site instead of more dangerous missile sites to dramatize its willingness to retaliate while minimizing casualties and keeping its options open for tougher responses, U.S. officials said yesterday. "We do not seek further confrontation with Iran, but we will be fully prepared to meet any escalation of military actions by Iran with stronger countermeasures," Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger said 30 minutes after the attack ended.

Here is a chronology of developments involving the United States' role in the Persian Gulf since the attack on the USS Stark in May: MAY 17: U.S. frigate Stark is attacked in the gulf by Iraqi warplane; 37 crew members die. U.S. officials term the attack a mistake by Iraqi pilot. MAY 19: President Reagan says Stark tragedy "must never be repeated" and says U.S. forces in the gulf will have more leeway to protect themselves. Administration also announces it will fly U.S. flags on 11 Kuwaiti tankers as protection against Iranian attack.

U.S. helicopter gunships attacked and sank three Iranian patrol boats in the Persian Gulf last night after the boats fired without provocation at a U.S. scout helicopter on routine patrol, administration officials said. Pentagon officials said that no Americans were hurt and that the U.S. helicopters were not damaged, but that two Iranian sailors died of their wounds shortly after they were pulled from the gulf by crewmen from a U.S. Navy vessel. In all, six Iranian crewmen were picked up by the Navy.

U.S. military forces are considering pre-emptive strikes against Iranian naval vessels suspected of carrying mines in the Persian Gulf, NBC News reported today. The Pentagon declined comment on the report, but administration officials said it was unlikely such an attack would be made unless an Iranian ship was caught sowing mines in the waterway. In a report from the gulf, NBC said Iran had stepped up mining near Farsi Island after the Sept. 21 attack by U.S. helicopters on an Iranian ship, the Iran Ajr, that the United States said was illegally sowing mines in international waters.

A supertanker operated by the U.S. oil giant Texaco today hit a mine in the Sea of Oman today - the first reported casualty of the Iran-Iraq "tanker war" outside the Persian Gulf. Shipping sources said the 274,347-ton Texaco Caribbean, flying the Panamanian flag, had taken on a full load of crude at Iran's offshore Larak Island terminal and struck the mine as it was coming in to anchor at the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah. The ship's captain, Luigi Parchi, said the mine blew a 12-foot-wide hole in the hull.

Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger said yesterday that mine-sweeping in the Persian Gulf had turned up suspected Iranian mines, but an Iranian official denied that Tehran was setting mines in the path of American tanker convoys. "We destroyed mines . . . outside the Kuwait harbor, and they're mines that Iran possesses," Weinberger said. "We don't know if those specific mines were owned by Iran, but we have every reason to believe they were. " Appearing on CBS's Face the Nation, Weinberger was pressed to say whether the mines recovered from the gulf had been identified as Iranian.

Driven from its moorings by high waves, the stricken supertanker Bridgeton waited to load oil in the Persian Gulf today as experts searched for mines along the route the ship and its U.S. escorts will follow. In Washington, Pentagon sources said eight American minesweeping helicopters, known as Sea Stallions, would be sent from Norfolk, Va., to the gulf. The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the helicopters' departure was "imminent. " The RH-53D minesweeping helicopters, with a complement of 200 men to operate and maintain them, will be flown aboard Air Force transport planes to the USS Guadalcanal, an amphibious landing ship and helicopter carrier in the Indian Ocean, the sources said.

July 29, 1987 | By Molly Moore and Don Oberdorfer, Washington Post (David Hess and Susan Bennett of The Inquirer Washington Bureau contributed to this article.)

Mine-sweeping teams have discovered a mine field in the Persian Gulf near where a Kuwaiti supertanker that had been re-registered as an American ship hit a mine last week while it was being escorted by U.S. warships, Pentagon officials said yesterday. U.S. explosives-disposal teams have been dispatched to help clear the mines from waters off Farsi Island about 120 miles southeast of Kuwait, officials said. They said Saudi, Kuwaiti and U.S. mine-sweeping teams think that they have identified seven mines in the area but are uncertain how many more may have been laid in the channel.